From the April issue: Like teeth punched out in a fight, the empty storefronts dotting Manhattan streets are reminders of a recent walloping, this one delivered by the economy. With consumers tightening their belts to save money, retailers, reeling from dropping sales and unable to make rent, are being forced to close up shop. The pockets of vacant stores thus created are perhaps the plainest hallmarks of the recession. The Real Deal examined the state of retail in five of the most heavily trafficked shopping areas in Manhattan — 125th Street, the Upper East Side’s Madison Avenue, the Lower East Side, the Financial District and the Meatpacking District — to see how each is weathering the economic downturn, and found that each district has its own unique set of challenges, from worker layoffs in the Financial District to Madison Avenue shoppers burned by the Madoff Ponzi scheme.
A look at retail vacancies by neighborhood
April 10, 2009 10:29AM
By Sarah Ryley
